"Distance: 2.5 miles. Time: 22.4 minutes. Set distance to d. Set time to t. Rate is r. R equals d over t, or 8.96 minutes per mile. There are 60 minutes in an hour. Sixty divided by 8.96 equals approximately 6.7 miles per hour."

Rei mumbled calculations to himself as he performed his cool-down stretches in the shade of the tall rocks at the end of the beach. His time running on the sandy surface had significantly improved compared to when he first started, but it was still a long way from his target goal. Even though he had not joined the track team to compete, Rei didn't want to let down the senpais and coaches that had helped him so much this past semester. He had resolved to improve his time by at least a full minute.

Running on the beach did have its advantages—the loose sand had really helped build up and tone his calves—but Rei felt that the location may have been working against him. He looked out over the water and smiled. Beautiful. More than once, the blue-haired boy had caught himself unconsciously slowing his pace to better enjoy the view. Beautiful things were his weakness.

Reaching for his bag, Rei switched his running glasses for his regular red frames. Wiping his face, he gazed longingly at the crystal blue water. It probably felt great to cool off in the ocean after a run. After glancing at his watch and deciding he still had plenty of time before he had to get home, Rei climbed up onto the rocks near the end of the beach where the water was considerably deeper. He sat down on the edge of the largest flat rock and slipped off his running shoes. Gingerly dipping his feet into the water, Rei enjoyed the refreshing feeling of the ocean between his toes.

Lost in his thoughts, Rei didn't notice the soft pokes on his leg until a cool hand wrapped around his ankle and gently tugged.

"What the-?!" he cried, scrambling back away from the water. In his panic, his glasses had slipped off and fallen who knows where. Most likely into the ocean.

A blurry blonde head peeked over the rock and giggled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Rei squinted. The voice was presumably male, but rather high-pitched.
"I wasn't scared!"

"You sounded pretty scared."

"I was not! I was just surprised. That's not the point though. Because of you, I lost my glasses. Ugh, they probably fell into the water."

The blurry figure waved something red over his head. "Ta-da!"

"My glasses!" Rei sat on his legs and reached out to grab them, but the boy swam just out of reach.

"Come and get them!"

"Hey!"

He swam out a bit further. "Just come over here."

"No!"

"Why not?"

Rei clenched his jaw shut. He didn't want to admit he couldn't swim. That went against his whole sense of beauty.

"Are you afraid of the water?"

"I'm not afraid!"

"Then come on."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because I can't swim dammit!"

"What?"

Rei cursed himself internally as he turned away to hide his blush.

The blonde swam back and looked up at him. "You don't know how to swim?"

The blue-haired boy moved to push up his glasses, remembered he wasn't wearing them, then balled up his hands in his lap. "No, I don't."

"Why?"

Rei's blush deepened and he tightened his fists. There was no way this rude and annoying blonde boy would understand the real reason why. Instead, he gave him the answer he gave everyone else. "Humans evolved to live on land, not swim in water."

Of course, he was the last person that should be claiming such things. As a pole vaulter, Rei spent most of his time trying to get away from the ground. The blonde boy planted his hands on either side of Rei's folded legs and pushed himself up to look him in the face.

"W-what?" stuttered Rei, increasingly uncomfortable with the boys close proximity.

"You're lying."

Rei blinked rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes. He was nearsighted, so with the blonde's closeness, he could see his face clearer. The boy had large eyes—a curious shade of dark pink. The blonde tilted his head and considered him for a moment before speaking.

"That's not the real reason, is it?"

Rei's eyebrows raised in surprise. The playful and cheery tone of the boy's voice had completely disappeared and was replaced with seriousness and concern. It was reminiscent of the way a counselor would talk to a troubled youth.

"Can I have my glasses back?" asked Rei, completely ignoring the blonde's question.

"Not until you tell me the real reason why you don't know how to swim."

The blue-haired boy looked down and muttered. "It's not beautiful."

"What?"

"It's not beautiful!" cried Rei, startling the boy and causing him to slip back down into the water. "A swimmer must flap his arms and legs underwater, while struggling to break the surface for a gasp of air. You can't look good while doing that! It defies reason!"

The blonde haired boy studied Rei for a moment before speaking. "Beauty shouldn't be the measure of something's worth."

His voice had a peculiar faraway quality that kept Rei silent. The blonde boy wordlessly pulled himself up to sit next to Rei and slipped his glasses back on. The blue haired boy studied him quietly. The boy was most likely around his age, but his face had a very cute, youthful quality to it. "Shota" he believed it was called. The dark pink eyes staring back at him reflected a jumble of emotions, but overall gave him the impression that the boy was eager, but shy about something.

As Rei shifted to slide his legs out from under him, he felt something cold and wet brush against his hand. He looked down and stared, wide-eyed, at the shiny tail sprouting from the blonde boy's lower half. Starting at what Rei could only assume were the boys hips was a long, magenta colored fish tail. When the light hit the scales at a certain angle, they got a rainbowy sheen, like opals.

The merboy looked down at his tail with a sad smile. "My tail lets me swim really fast. It helps me escape from predators in the water and to catch food. Even though it's not very pretty, it's still very important to me. You can't measure something's worth on beauty alone because even something as ugly as my tail is worth a lot."

"Beautiful."

The merboy looked up at Rei, surprised. "What?"

Very, very gently, the blue haired boy ran his fingertips over the tail. "It's beautiful."

The blonde blushed and shied away from the intimate gesture. Rei, sensing his discomfort—and feeling rather embarrassed himself—pulled his hand back and readjusted his glasses before speaking again.

"My name is Rei. Rei Ryugasaki. Nice to meet you."

"Rei-chan?"

"Rei-chan?!" he cried.

The merboy giggled—a sound Rei found himself enjoying much more than he should have at the particular moment.

"Nice to meet you Rei-chan. You can call me Nagisa."

He stared at Nagisa, ready to demand that he stop using the girly honorific, but after getting a good look at the merboy's smile, he could only look away and readjust his glasses once more.

"Hey Rei-chan, are your glasses broken?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you keep pushing them up so I thought that maybe something loosened when they fell off."

"N-no, they're fine."

Nagisa peered into Rei's face. "Are you sure?"

Rei blushed. Readjusting his glasses was a habit he had developed some time around grade school. Whenever he was embarrassed, thinking about something really hard or just needed a moment to compose himself, he would use his whole hand to push up his glasses, effectively covering most of his face in the process.

"Yes I'm sure. Absolutely positive!"

The merboy leaned back and giggled again. "You're an interesting human Rei-chan."

The blue haired boy frowned. Something in that statement troubled him. Interesting? Interesting compared to whom?

"Have you met other humans then?"

Nagisa curled and uncurled his tail. "Yep, a few."

Rei's mouth set in a tight line. He stood up and brushed himself off. "It's getting late."

The merboy watched him with wide eyes. "You're leaving?"

The blue hared boy nodded wordlessly as he slipped on his shoes.

"Will you come again tomorrow?"

Rei glanced at the merboy for a moment and faltered. He wasn't sure if Nagisa was merely exaggerating, or if he really was about to cry. Either way, the thought of the blonde boy in tears if he refused was reason enough for Rei to agree.

"If you want me to come again, I can."

Nagisa's whole face lit up. "Really?!"

Rei nodded, adjusting his glasses.

"Hooray!" cried the merboy, throwing his arms up.

The blue haired boy had a slight sinking feeling that denying Nagisa anything in the future was going to be all but impossible. He picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Nagisa smiled and nodded before sliding back into the water. He resurfaced a moment later and waved. "See you Rei-chan!"

With a flick of his tail, the merboy disappeared once again. As Rei looked out over the water, all he could think of was how the concept of swimming was staring to look a lot more inviting.

hello. this is my first serious attempt at writing a fanfiction of any sort so please forgive any mistakes and such. reigisa is my otp so i tried really really hard to keep them in character. if you're as big a free! fangirl as i am, you probably noticed i took some of rei's lines straight from episode 3. call it lazy, but the writers did a way better job explaining his thoughts on swimming than i ever could.

im thinking of writing a few more chapters for this and maybe add some yaoi smut (YAY SMUT!), but im not sure yet.

side note: if you like the concept of the free! boys as mermen, then i highly recommend you read "curiosity" by LawliPop. in fact, it was that fic and its sequel that inspired this. (it also contains a bunch of smutty goodness if you're into that kind of thing. i know i am)

anyway, i hope you enjoyed my sorry attempt at writing a fanfiction (or in the very least didn't see this as a complete waste of your time). any and all reviews are very much appreciated!